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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Vespoidea » Vespidae » Hornets and Yellowjackets (Vespinae) » Ground Yellowjackets (Vespula) » American Yellowjacket (Vespula alascensis)
Photo#1145833
Is this a queen Vespula maculifrons? - Vespula alascensis - female
Copyright © 2015 mholland

Is this a queen Vespula maculifrons? - Vespula alascensis - Female
Hartland, Windsor County, Vermont, USA
September 26, 2015
This yellow jacket was so much larger than the rest of the members of the colony I wondered if it was a queen or a male. Have read that males aren't that much bigger than workers, so deduced this must be a queen? Hard to find agreeing diagnostic features of a queen online.
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Contributed by mholland on 27 September, 2015 - 9:57am
Last updated 2 January, 2016 - 4:11pm

Moved
Moved from Vespula.
… Matthias Buck, 2 January, 2016 - 4:11pm login or register to post comments

Vespula alascensis
The female in the center is a gyne (future queen). Fortunately, at the upper edge of the image one can see the pattern of tergum 1 of a worker. This in combinmation with the gyne clearly nails this as alascensis. For diagnostic characters including queens see: http://cjai.biologicalsurvey.ca/bmc_05/key_vespula.html
… Matthias Buck, 2 January, 2016 - 4:10pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from ID Request. This is either V. flavopilosa or V. alascensis. A queen.

Diagnostic features of queen yellowjackets are difficult to generalize for the entire genus. In some species, the presence of free black dots (as opposed to those connected to the black tergal bands) on the abdomen suggest it is a queen. The best feature is usually size. This article gives good examples of queen vs worker of most spp.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/35661
… Vespula Vulgaris, 27 September, 2015 - 1:49pm login or register to post comments

 
thank you for article
Thank you so much for referring me to the article on Vespula spp.
… mholland, 27 September, 2015 - 2:33pm login or register to post comments

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